Following Minister K.T. Rama Rao’s directions, the department of Municipal Administration & Urban Development (MA&UD) has, on Wednesday, issued administrative sanction for ₹ 298.34 crore to take up several works towards making the open stormwater drains safe for citizens.
Severely criticised for the death of two persons recently after they were washed away in the stormwater flow respectively at Neredmet and Saroornagar areas, Mr. Rama Rao had, during a review meeting with senior officials, asked the officials to prepare proposals to cap all the drains which are under two metres width, and fence off those with a width of over two metres.
Following the meeting, GHMC Commissioner has sent proposals for a total of 472 works in all six zones, with a cost estimate of ₹298.34 crore. GHMC is going to use its general fund for the capping and retaining wall works.
Of the total, 382 works pertain to drains with less than two metres width, with a cost estimate of ₹233 crore. The remaining 90 works will be taken up on the nalas over two metres width, for which the expenditure is pegged at ₹65.32 crore.
Maximum amount of work will be taken up in LB Nagar zone, where a total of 137 locations need to be addressed with an expenditure of ₹86.87 crore.
In Charminar zone, the estimate is ₹32.59 crore for 47 works, in Khairatabad, ₹33.06 crore for 44 works, in Serilingampally ₹38.94 crore for 89 works, in Kukatpally, ₹85.96 crore for 121 works, and in Secunderabad zone, the estimate is ₹29.92 crore for a total of 34 works.